2011 Australian Open, Katarina Srebotnik and Daniel Nestor clinch mixed doubles title
Seeded no. 2 at the 2011 Australian Open in the mixed doubles category, Katarina Srebotnik, of Slovenia, and, Daniel Nestor, of Canada clinched the title upon having defeated the pair of Taiwan's, Yung Jan Chan, and, Australia's Paul Hanley.
Srebotnik and Nestor got off to a good start, initiating the match with a 6-3 win in the first set.
However, in a reverse of fortune, Hanley and Chan bounced back to take the second set 6-3. The deciding third set nevertheless went in favour of Daniel and Katarina as they took it 10-7 to bag the title.
Daniel and Katarina saved six of nine break points that they had against them. On the contrary, Chan and Hanley's serve was broken three out of five times.
Speaking about his partner, Nestor stated, "Having a really good partner obviously helps. She played great. I played well, too. That's some of the best mixed I played this week. I don't always play that well. But I was happy with the way I played, too".
Apart from having played doubles with Nestor, Srebotnik, has paired up with Bob Bryan of the United States and Serbia's Nenad Zimonjic. The Serb told Katarina that he had planned on teaming up with compatriot, Ana Ivanovic, for the 2011 Australian Open in order
to prepare for the 2012 London Olympics.
"I mean, a little bit surprised by that because Olympics is still a long way and it's not on a grass court. But, you know, I respect his choice", she said. "Then I was looking, and Daniel was right there. (Zimonjic) kind of said in joke that Daniel thinks
I'm the perfect mixed player. Of course, he was joking. I still don't believe to this day... so I said I would love to play. And that's how we end up", said Srebotnik.
Furthermore, Ivanovic chose not to play the mixed doubles event due to a health issue that she came into the tournament with. The professional chose to focus on the singles event but unfortunately got knocked out in the first round.
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